Act on Health Sector Database

The Act on Health Sector Database, also known as Act on Health Sector Database, No. 139/1998, the Health Sector Database Act and in media by other colloquial names, was a 1998 act of the Icelandic Parliament which allowed the Icelandic government to grant a license to a private company for the creation of a national biological database to store health information which could be used for research. The act was noted for boldly introducing policy related to biobanks and was the subject of controversy.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

deCODE genetics did most of the lobbying for the act and was the beneficiary of the license to create the database.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

Controversies

The passing of this act spurred international discussion about what policies were already in place and what differences in policy existed among biobanks.{{Cite journal | last1 = Austin | first1 = M. A. | last2 = Harding | first2 = S. | last3 = McElroy | first3 = C. | doi = 10.1159/000069544 | title = Genebanks: A Comparison of Eight Proposed International Genetic Databases | journal = Community Genetics | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 37–45 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12748437| s2cid = 20931713 }}

The establishment of a national database for all Icelandic citizens raised discussion about the nature of the informed consent process for the project.{{Cite journal | last1 = Arnason | first1 = V. | title = Coding and Consent: Moral Challenges of the Database Project in Iceland | journal = Bioethics | volume = 18 | issue = 1 | pages = 27–49 | year = 2004 | pmid = 15168697 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2004.00377.x| s2cid = 7633275 }}

References

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